Cutting guide

Abstract

A cutting guide for use in making a cut in a carpet comprises an elongate base including a substantially flat upper surface portion and a channel which extends along the base. The inner side walls of the channel are at an oblique angle relative to the upper surface portion so that when the guide is placed underneath a carpet and a knife drawn along the channel in contact with a side wall, the cut edge thereby produced in the carpet is at an oblique angle to the plane of the carpet. When two such edges of different portions of carpet are abutted together, a tidy unobtrusive seam is produced.

I claim: 
     
       1. A cutting guide for use in guiding a cutting tool of the type used to cut flexible sheet material such as carpet or the like, said guide comprising a base having a generally flat bottom surface, said base having inclined upper ramp surfaces to support the carpet to be cut, said guide having an apex portion at the juncture between said ramp surfaces, said apex defining at least two parallel upwardly open channels having oppositely inclined channel guide walls, which guide walls are inclined at opposite angles relative to a normal to the flat bottom surface of at least 20°. 
     
     
       2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said ramp surfaces are inclined with respect to the flat bottom surface of the guide at an angle of at least approximately 7°. 
     
     
       3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein the included angle defined by the guiding surfaces associated with the first and second upwardly open channels defines an angle in the range between 40° and 70°. 
     
     
       4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said parallel channels define a ridge therebetween, each of said parallel channels also including an opposite channel wall parallel to the above mentioned guide surface wall, and each channel further including an inner wall oriented transversely with respect to these parallel side walls of each of said channels. 
     
     
       5. The combination according to claim 4 wherein said base has an end face defining an interlocking configuration such that the guide can be joined to another guide of the same geometry to increase the effective length of a guide constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
     
     
       6. The guide according to claim 5 wherein another end of the guide is mitred to form end faces (9, 9) which are useful when cutting carpet at an acute angle.